Re-Examine the Connotation and Nature of NIMBY

Abstract

NIMBY is a common phenomenon in the field of environmental protection. Scholars have different understandings of the connotation and nature of NIMBY. In a narrow sense, NIMBY means that some residents resist a facility near their habitat when it has not been built or has not polluted the environment. In a broad sense, NIMBY refers to the resistance of some residents to the proposed facilities near their habitat or the facilities that have polluted the environment. NIMBY in a narrow sense belongs to precautionary environmental protest. NIMBY, broadly defined, can be both remedial and precautionary environmental protest. By tracing the history of academic research on NIMBY, this paper finds that the NIMBY studied by scholars in the early stage was a narrow sense of NIMBY, which mainly studied the conflicts caused by the location or construction of public facilities such as waste treatment facilities. This makes many scholars have long believed that the nature of NIMBY was the conflict between community interests and public interests. The narrow sense of NIMBY is usually understood by the academic and practical fields. The nature of NIMBY depends on the attributes of NIMBY facilities, the rationality of facility planning and design, the procedural justice of site selection process and other factors. Re-examining the connotation and nature of NIMBY will help all sectors of society to view the phenomenon of NIMBY more fairly, pay more attention to the interests and environmental rights of community residents, and avoid one-sided labeling of NIMBY. This study will contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development.